"Ideology over Support"

There were a couple of occasions where I felt ideology dictated over my choice here.

I asked for anti sickness medication during pregnancy and a midwife did not prescribe these, she told me to drink ginger and try acupressure (I did, she still didn't prescribe them). Another told me that breastfeeding makes your child more intelligent, which is not what the science says at all. Another said that laughter creates more endorphins for pain relief than opiates. Another handed out information from PHS about formula feeding, which we asked for, and said they shouldn't have and that they would get into trouble for sharing the information. We wanted to try BF but we understand how difficult it is and needed to know how to prepare formula because we aren't going to starve our child for propaganda. We were told the negatives of formula but not told the negatives of BF, and this prevents informed choice.

During the antenatal class, we were shown a picture from the NCT of a woman who had birthed and it was so unnatural and unrealistic - she was beautiful, sweat free, not a hair out of place, on her knees holding her newborn still attached. This is selling an idea rather than a reality and it damages our mental health.

I had asked for support and information and midwives either told me to suffer through traditional remedies that I didn't ask for or worried they would get into trouble for helping me. In my opinion this isn't woman centred, I actually found it quite misogynistic to think women's suffering and pain is expected and encouraged. A couple of midwives were also saying things that aren't true at all and to suggest a woman laughs through her labour is ridiculous. Not every woman wants this way of pregnancy and birth and it should be respected instead of ignored.